Lawmakers In Wyoming Pass Three New Bills Related To The Cryptocurrency Industry In The State

Wyoming is one of the foremost promoters of cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology in the United States. This is why its lawmakers are trying to create a regulatory framework that would guide and promote this emerging technology making the state the number one choice for cryptocurrency businesses.

Wyoming Passes New Bills

Last week, the Wyoming Lawmakers approved bill SF0125. This bill gives banks permission to act as custodians for cryptocurrencies. It also recognizes cryptocurrencies as property. In the House of Representatives, the bill passed by 54-2. In the Senate, it got 29 votes with none against.

According to the bill, digital assets are a representation of proprietary, economic or access rights that are stored in computer readable formats. This includes digital securities, digital consumer assets, and virtual currencies. As soon as the bill is signed and approved by the state Governor, Mark Gordon, it would become law. This is expected to happen by July 1st. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, digital assets will be classified as property. The bill continued:

“Digital consumer assets are intangible forms of personal property. They are to be considered intangible according to the W.S. 34.1‑9‑102(a)(xlii). This would be done solely for the purpose of article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code title 34.1 Wyoming statuses.”

In the bill, there is a provision that allows banks to provide custodial services for digital assets in compliance with the internal control and accounting standards of the state. This was initially introduced by the bipartisan group of Wyoming’s legislators last week.

The co-founder of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, Caitlin Long, during an interview with the news outlet CoinDesk, said that the passing of this bill into law brings the state closer to its goal. She also said that it would contribute to making Wyoming a hub for cryptocurrency startups and other similar companies.

House Bill (HB) 0074 And HB0185

The passing of bill SF0125 isn’t the only good news from lawmakers. Last week, two bills were passed. One is House Bill (HB) 0074 while the other is HB0185. The bill HB0185, which was introduced last month, is meant to legalize the tokenization of securities. The second bill, HB0074 was designed to tackle challenges that are impeding the development of blockchain technology in the state. Long said that one of these challenges is that banks have been afraid to offer banking services to cryptocurrency startups. In Long’s words:

“There was a significant crackdown in 2017 that led many banks to close accounts connected to digital assets. This pushed many businesses to shut down operations. The new bill will serve as an industry utility that will allow the banking industry to serve cryptocurrency startups.”

This isn’t the first time the lawmakers are approving cryptocurrency-related bills in the state. Last month, the FinTech sandbox bill was approved. This bill allows startups (blockchain startups included) to test new technologies in a bid to determine how these technologies will fit into the region with the current regulatory framework.